I'm In The Garden

Oh, hello! I was so busy I didn't see you standing there!

You know, working at a nature center has many benefits. Besides the pleasure of the company of others enjoying the same work and a feeling that you are contributing to the beauty of the park, a big plus is that you get a lot of freebies! Seems like every time I go in to work I leave with another something. Whenever they have more starts than they need they tray them up and leave them in the break room for whoever wants them. I've accumulated so many starts that I've had to pot them up and line my deck with them. I have coral bells, dill, verbena, a trumpet vine that I bought, and last week I came home with a sack full of dwarf iris in a variety of colors! I've already found places to put the iris but the rest is out here awaiting their new space when I find it.

I keep a pan of water here on the corner of the deck railing as a little bath for the birds. It sits just behind my butterfly bush that is bursting with blooms and I can see all this from my kitchen door.  

Well, I've got to get back to work now.

Come again when you can stay a little longer and I'll show you what's new.

Always remember, never forget.

Have a save and happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Treasure Hunting

Summer is the time for treasure hunting! Garage sales, flea markets and antique shows abound.On Friday my friend Judy and I went to Springfield, OH to the largest antique show I've ever seen. It was held at the Clark County Fairground and there were acres and acres of vendors displaying so many antiques, collectables, and treasures that even after walking for four hours we still had not covered the whole show. We were tempted buy so many things but had steadfastly resisted purchasing anything. As we were winding down and thinking of heading back to the car we strolled through one of the outbuildings and I came across this artist couple who make jewelry and windchimes out of antique silver jewelry. They call themselves Silver Chest Creations and I simply had to have one of their delightful windchimes for myself. I loved how they curled the tines of the forks and added so many beads. The heart in the middle is a faceted glass jewel and sparkles very prettily. They attached the strands to the flat part of a cake/pie server! Although the windchimes are not on their website, you can request them, and their beautiful watches, bracelets, necklaces, spoonrings and other items are. I encourage you to visit. You won't believe your eyes.   

 Judy decided that if I was going to buy the windchimes then she had better swing by and grab the moose she had spotted earlier but walked away from. This fellow is about four feet high and six feet long and doesn't he look right at home in her back yard? Absolutely fabulous!

She had promised me a visit to the Clifton Mill and Restaurant in Clifton on the trip back and I'm so glad we went. Friday was a scorchingly hot day and we were tired and thirsty so this lovely historic place was perfect for sharing an appetizer and a couple glasses of wine.

Behind the mill and on the other side of the river is this historic covered bridge. I believe the bridge has been moved to this site from elsewhere but what a lovely addition it makes.

The mill is still in operation and sells homemade cornmeal and flour as well as fun general store type things. It is a big attraction around Christmas, when the entire mill is swathed in white lights and all kinds of holiday festivities are happening. There is even a garden scale train that runs on tracks across the river and this replica of an old time gas staiton that houses Christmas items for sale.

May artists have painted the mill with the waterfall. I may try painting the gas station.

Happiness Is In The Details

Don't you just love it when Mother Nature graces you with a surprise?

My garden this year has produced some surprises that weren't there last year. This is one of them. Foxgloves! I have always wished for these beauties in my garden but, for some reason, I never planted them. Last spring was so cold and rainy that these did not bloom. This year they are just gorgeous.

Another surprise that popped up in my front garden is Astilbe. It hasn't bloomed yet so I don't know what color it is so that will be yet another surprise. And last year I discovered two clumps of Balloon Flower growing near my compost heap behind my garage! I moved them to a better location and now they are big and full.

Last Monday when I went to work at the arboretum they were giving away a few excess tomato plants. I took one so now I have another to add to my small veggie garden.  

So many surprises everywhere I turn. I do believe the garden fairies are busily working each evening to help make my garden pretty, and don't we need all the help we can get?



Animal Wednesday

Just a little woodland resident napping in a tree.

He was spotted while hiking a local metro park on Saturday.

Happy Animal Wednesday!

Giving Back

I have recently begun volunteering my services at my favorite arboretum. After hiking this beautiful place through the winter and spring and seeing all the exciting areas this park has to offer I knew that it would be a place where I would enjoy working.

You may remember this photo from an earlier post. This is a rock wall bordering the lake and the structure in the background is an arbor that is now covered with vines. I am still getting acquanted with the many varieties of beautiful plants this park grows and I will share with you what I find. One evening a week I work with the Edible Landscape group known as the "Monday Nighters". This is the only metro park that has greenhouses and we supply plants for all the other parks in the area. In this group we propagate herbs and vegetables and maintain the gardens. 

 I posted this photo earlier also and I have learned that the interesting plant in the foreground is a Red Stem Dogwood. I was not acquainted with this plant before and I think this is a delightful plant to have in a winter landscape. And, of course the bridge is the Monet Bridge. Why didn't that occur to me at the time I saw it? All is so green and bursting with life now. I will surely be offering new photos throughout the summer. Another of my tasks will be working in the Butterfly House this summer. In this job I will be trained to learn the various species of butterflies that are hatched here at the park and are native to our area. I will help educate visitors on their life cycles and what plants to grow to attract butterflies to thier own gardens.

On Fridays I work in the Rock Garden shown in the top photo. This garden is now full of succulents, and many drought resistant varieties of plants grown in dry, arid areas. We call ourselves "The Rockettes", even though we do have men who volunteer here also. :) Our jobs include keeping the weeds out of the gravel groundcover, making hypertufa flower pots that are sold in the gift shop, and propagating and planting alpine plants.

There are so many areas where I can be useful here. Our shifts are usually around ninety minutes to two hours and I'm meeting so many wonderful people. Because everyone is a volunteer, everyone enjoys their work, and that is truly a first for me!! It's so nice to work with people who are not constantly complaining about their job!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

To all my bloggy friends,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Just A Few Last Postcards

 Toward the end of our week we hiked Kimsey Creek in the Nantahala National Forest. I mean we hiked IN the creek! A lot of sloshing through water, stepping gingerly on wet, mossy rocks and rotten logs, and through gooey mud. I didn't realize how messy it would be so I didn't wear my waterproof boots, only my hiking shoes which got a little wet. No worry. It was a warm day and everything's washable.

I loved these neat old footbridges spanning the creek below. Everything was so green and smelled so good. The area residents told us that the week before they had had torrential rains so I think the creeks were still a little swollen.

We learned about the yellow birch trees that grow abundantly down there. It seems that these trees like to begin life on old, fallen, rotten logs. As the tree grows it spreads its roots around the 'nurse log' and then into the ground. Eventually the nurse log rots away and the yellow birches are left straddling the ground, suspended in the air by its roots which look like legs for the tree! I picked up some moss from the trail that day and wanted to use it in a painting to help me remember what I learned. I thought it would give this painting a twist with a bit of collage in the foreground.  

 Creeks, stream and waterfalls everywhere. So beautiful.

Before leaving town we paid a visit to the John C Campbell Folk School. This is an arts and crafts retreat for adults. They teach skills in dance, fiber arts, jewelry, iron work, pottery, and so much more.  

This is one of the buildings that house classes and lodging. There were classes in cooking and fiber arts happening here that day and we were able to sit in for a time and visit and watch. The second floor is the music classroom and the top is lodging. This is a large operation, incorporating many acres and many buildings on the compound.  

These were some bits of mosaic that were left on a bench in front of one of the buildings.  

 And this was a beautiful mosaic birdbath that I spotted in the herb and flower garden. Hmm, do I see a new project for me here? Could be.....

Before leaving I wanted to take home a souvenier. We visited the gift shop where I purchased myself a new tea mug. Just before the trip I accidentally knocked mine off the microwave and broke it. I like this one even better!

Such a lovely place it is here. I hope the residents realize what a treasure they have. I'm sure the Cherokee did and I fully understand their reluctance to leave.

Carolina, you are always on my mind.

Postcards From Paradise

On this day we hiked more of the AT. Because we split up into two groups and  traveled in different vans that started from different points we had our choice of hiking four miles up the mountain and two miles down or two miles up and four miles down. I had my mind made up that I would do the four miles up. That is, until the day of the hike. My feet and legs were beginning to tire and I chickened out the morning of the hike and went for the two miles up.   

In many places on these hikes we crossed small streams on narrow foot bridges made from split logs. Maybe I'm practicing for trapeze walking later. :) 

Often the trails hugged the sides of the mountains with steep drops along the edges. Along the way our guides pointed out the many edible plants and wildflowers and explained how the Indians (they are still referred to as Indians down here) used them for medicines and for dying fabrics and baskets. 

 This slimy little critter was happily munching away on a leaf and paid us no regard as we snapped his photo. He was a huge snail, about the size of my finger, and the largest one I've ever seen.

Happy Animal Wednesday!



We were told before the hike that upon completing the two or four mile uphill hike there would be another quarter mile hike up to Siler Bald. We were told that the view from the top was worth the hike.  

They forgot to mention that the hike was straight up the mountain! The sun was high and it was about noon when we reached this point. I was hot but I decided that if everyone else was going, I would too.

I made it! 

And they were right! The 360 degree views were spectacular! This is where we ate lunch. There was a slight breeze and the bugs were a lot less bothersome on this hike.  

This is looking down the the mountainside as we were preparing to decend our four and a quarter mile hike back. I was so glad I had chosen to take the long end of the hike downhill!  

On one evening we were taken to see some lifesized replicas of Cherokee sites. This one showed us how the Indians lived and the types of houses they made. They didn't live in teepees in this side of the country because of the climate here. They had winter houses and summer houses. The winter house was made of daub and wattle, a type of straw and clay structure, with a fire pit in the middle of the room and seating around that. On the right is a summer house, basically a lean-to structure made of wood. The crib in the middle is for corn and other dry vegetables. It is elevated to keep it away from animals.

We were told a little about the Trail of Tears story; how in 1836 the government declared that all Cherokee would have to be removed and relocated to parts out west. They were given two years to vacate their native land on their own. By 1838 only 2,000 of the 17,000 had left and the soldiers moved in, forcibly rounding up the remaining people, taking them to various stockades and then on to the west. The people were taken from wherever they were and from whatever they were doing at that time. Sometimes children were separated from their parents and men and women were simply taken from the fields and thier homes leaving unfinished work and horses still standing where they were. Such a sad story. 

This photo was meant to be included with the photos at the top of the mountain, but I forgot it and Blogger has made it impossible to move photos around now without deleting the entire post and starting over. So here is the elvation marker of Siler Bald.

Next we will visit Raven Cliff Falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia. 

Posts From My Vacation - Day Two

Backing up for a minute, I wanted to mention that on the drive down to Hayesville, NC we somehow inadvertantly ended up on what is known as "The Tail of the Dragon", a very curvy (318 curves in 11 miles) road winding down the mountain. We're talking hang a left, then hang a right, then hang a left, etc. all the way down. I remember a few years back when I talked about my hubby and I going motorcycle riding and Cathie Recca said we should "Do The Dragon". Driving along on Sunday Valerie and I kept seeing signs along the way about 'dragon' this and 'dragon' that and finally it hit me! This was the famous "Dragon"! At the end of the ride and the bottom of the mountain is a sort of convenience/souvenier store and restaurant. Of course I had to buy myself a pink T-shirt souvenier! What a ride this was and I'm so glad I got to experience it! 

On Monday, our first day of hiking, we divided ourselves into two groups with a guide for each group, loaded ourselves into two vans and were bussed a 40 minute drive to our hiking destination, the Appalachian Trail on Winding Stair Gap. This trail was very rugged. Many, many rocks in our path and the trail wound its way back and forth up the mountainside. To the inexperienced hiker, like me, trekking over so many rocks can be slow, tiring and tricky. Unfortunately, one woman stumbled and fell about halfway up the mountain, breaking her left arm just below the elbow. She had to continue the hike to the end as we wouldn't have had time to go back down and come back up, and no way to bus her to a clinic.  That must have been very painful. Upon returning to the guest house that evening she went to the local Urgent Care where it was speculated that surgery may be a possibility. Some arrangements were made for her to return home where she preferred to have another doctor examine her.

 This is Liz, our other tour guide. She is a botonist and is very well educated in tree, plant, and bird identification. Here she is explaining the blazes that are painted on the trees along the hiking paths. This white blaze indicates that one is hiking the Appalachian Trail. This is the trail we followed on this day.

The morning started out a little hazy and we learned that the higher the elevation, the less vegetation, as the air is thinner and cooler the higher we go. 

Part way up the mountainside we saw a sign indicating a nearby shelter and we all agreed that we would like to deviate and visit it. I have read many books by people who have hiked the AT and all of them mention how nice it is to come upon a shelter when hiking in the rain. It is no fun to have to pitch your tent in driving rain and try to cook with wet wood.  

Behind the table of this shelter there is a platform the length of the shelter upon which you can roll out your sleeping bag and spend the night off the ground. Some shelters even have two platforms and can sleep up to eight or ten people. There is always a log book in the shelters for hikers to log in, if desired, and leave a note for followers. You can enlarge the photo and see the book on the sleeping platform in the right corner. "Wendy" had stopped by here that morning for breakfast. It's a nice place for hikers to gather and share trail stories around the campfire.  

 Around noon we finally reached the top of Winding Stair Gap. Large black gnats (more like small flies) had pestered us the entire hike up and we were so hoping to be rid of them upon reaching the top. Not to be. They swarmed us in droves and by this time the sun was pretty warm. There weren't really any shady places to park for lunch so we just plopped anywhere on the grass and ate. After a few moments to absorb this wonderful view and quick trot into the latrine woods we started back down the mountainside.

 Liz explained that these forests in this area are choked with rhododendrons which can be quite impossible to penetrate when in full leaf. So much so that early hunters dubbed them "rododendron hell" and they could actually walk on top of them! I'm betting that they are beautiful when in bloom, however.

The higher elevation also meant that the early wildflowers were just beginning to bloom and we saw lots of trillium, violets, solomon seal, toothwort, foam flower, bellwort, and wood bettony, just to name a few. Liz also pointed out a tiny bird nest on the gound in the fork of some tree roots. She said it belonged to the chestnut sided warbler. She identified so many birds and plants that my mind is boggled but I'm sure some of it stuck. At least I hope so.  

Killer Biting Black Bugs!

Next we are going to Wayah Crest and Siler Bald.

Stay tuned.

Posts From My Vacation

Last week I slipped away to the Nantahala National Forest on the North Carolina - Georgia state line. I enrolled in a week long hiking vacation through Road Scholar. Some of you may remember this as Elderhostel. I have a lot of photos and stories to tell but I will break them up and share them with you over the next few days.

DAY ONE

There were around 18 of us altogether, and we all came from different areas of the country. Most had already done at least one of these trips. This was my first one. Some of us were single but most were couples. We were housed in the main hostel at the Hinton Center Retreat. This organization is rather like a "Habitat for Humanity", helping to build and repair homes and comunnities in the area and they treated us like royalty.

This is the main gathering room of the retreat and on the second floor. All the guest rooms were at either end of this room and some were on the lower level. At the other end of this room, behind me, is a large kitchen area complete with all the modern conveniences, although we never had to cook a meal. Everything was provided for us including laundry service.

I went with Valerie, a friend I found through hiking locally. This was our room on the lower level. Every room had an adjoining bathroom as well. The building was airconditioned and the beds were surprisingly comfortable.

Our meals were served cafeteria style in a separate building and we had the pleasure of following this lovely trail to breakfast each morning. Our weather was wonderful; usually the days started out in the low 70's and reached the mid 80's by late afternoon. Breakfast was served each morning at 8AM and the food was delicious, ranging from buscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, to waffles one morning and French toast another. Our brown bag lunches were provided for us also and we could choose between a deli meat sandwich or peanut butter and jelly. These we packed into our backpacks and eaten later on the trail.

Nestled to the side of the path to the cafeteria was a lovely labyrinth surrounded by rhododendrons and other pretty flowering plants. The view of the valley was breathtaking.

On the back of the cafeteria was a long porch overlooking Lake Chatuge. This is a man made lake.I learned that there are no natural lakes in this area. A large dam was built years ago and it created many beautiful lakes that now provide acreage for second homes and vacation retreats.

Early one morning I took a walk down to the lake. This is the boat launch for the rental cabins and private residences surrounding the lake.

Each evening after dinner we were entertained by Lee, one of our tour guides. He is an historian and local authority of Cherokee Indian folklore. He played several musical instruments and I really enjoyed his funny stories and sometimes sad accounts of the demise of the Cherokee in this part of the country.

I took over 100 photos on my trip and I will select some of the best to share with you later this week. There really wasn't any down time for sketching and painting, so perhaps I will get some time this week to work on a painting or two. If it weren't for these photos I probably couldn't even remember all that we did; there was just so much happening all the time.